Bella Swan (Midnight Moon)
Isabella "Bella" Marie Cullen (née Swan), was born to Charlie Swan and Renée Dwyer on September 13, 1987, and is the main protagonist of the Twilight Saga. In Twilight, she is a 17-year-old girl who transfers schools from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her father Charlie, where she meets and falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. In Breaking Dawn, she marries Edward on August 13, 2006 and becomes a member of the Olympic coven. She is transformed into a vampire by Edward after nearly dying giving birth to their daughter, Renesmee Cullen, a human/vampire hybrid. Bella is the daughter-in-law of Edward, Sr. and Elizabeth Masen, as well as the adoptive daughter-in-law of Carlisle and Esme Cullen. She is the adoptive sister-in-law of Alice and Emmett Cullen, and of Jasper and Rosalie Hale. As a human, Bella possessed a natural immunity to the mental powers of vampires. After her transformation into a vampire, she develops it into the ability to project a mental shield that protects others from the psychic powers of other vampires. Her Life and Death counterpart is Beau Swan. She is portrayed by Kristen Stewart in the movie adaptations. Biography Early life Isabella Marie Swan was born on September 13, 1987, to Renée and Charlie Swan, a young couple living in the small town of Forks, Washington. Her parents divorced when she was only three months old. Renée took Bella with her to Downey, California, to live with her difficult grandmother, before moving to Riverside after her mother got her education degree and landed a job as a kindergarten teacher at a local school. When Bella was six years old, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona. During most of her childhood, she would visit her father in Forks for one month every summer, and got acquainted with Rachel, Rebecca, Jane and Jacob Black, the children of Charlie's best friend, Billy Black, though they never became real friends. Bella found the climate in Forks unpleasant, though, and from 2002 onward, Charlie vacationed with her in California instead. She briefly took ballet and piano lessons, but quit them after some time because she found them too difficult. Bella never fit in with her peers in California or Arizona. She had always had the feeling of being a little out of sync with everyone—including her mother, who was her best friend. While her mother was impractical, absentminded and liked to shift from one interest to the next, Bella grew up as the more responsible and independent individual. At an early age, she took over most of the household responsibilities. Sometimes, she would feel like she was the adult and Renée was the child. During free time, she preferred to sit home and read, in part because she was extraordinarily clumsy. Her naturally responsible nature carried over into her schoolwork, where Bella was generally a straight-A student. Her plan for the future was to get a degree in education and teach, like her mother. Renee's career was the one thing that Bella truly respected. However, she intended to teach at the high school level. When Bella noticed that Renée felt lonely due to the lack of romance in her life, she encouraged her mother to go on more dates. Eventually, Renée fell in love with and married a minor league baseball player named Phil Dwyer. Bella wasn't entirely fond of the idea, but nevertheless offered her blessing. They married in the same month that Bella turned 17. While Phil traveled around for his job, Renée stayed home with Bella; however, Bella, noticing her mother's unhappiness with this arrangement, chose to move in with her father in Forks so Renée could go on the road with Phil during baseball season, leading to the beginning of Twilight. ''Twilight'' At the beginning of Twilight, Bella moves back to her birth town of Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Charlie Swan, to let her mother, Renée Dwyer, travel with her new husband, Phil. She enrolls at Forks High School in the middle of her junior year. She does not notice the physical attraction she holds for the male students at the school, and makes a few new friends, including Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, and Mike Newton, the latter of whom she later discovers is very interested in her. The one group of people at Forks High School that truly intrigues Bella are the Cullens, a mysterious family consisting of five adopted children. Edward Cullen, in particular, captures her attention, along with his adopted siblings, namely: Alice, a petite girl with black, pixie-cut hair, who has the ability to see the future; Jasper, her husband, who has the hardest time in the family abstaining from human blood; Emmett, a broad, extremely muscular vampire; finally, Rosalie, his wife, who is a beautiful, self-absorbed woman. Due to Bella's uncanny ability to attract accidents, Edward finds himself often protecting her from various unlikely calamities, and finds himself growing extremely protective of her—to the point where even he admits he sometimes goes too far. When Tyler Crowley's car almost hits Bella and Jane, Edward knocks them out of the way and shields them from the collision. Bella realizes that it would have been physically impossible for a ordinary human being to cross the distance to her in time—as Edward was four cars away from her a split-second before the truck would have crushed her—or hold back, much less push away, a pick-up truck with his bare hands. She confronts him in the hospital, but he dismisses her accusations in an unsuccessful attempt to throw her off the scent, instead leaving her more suspicious than ever. During a trip down to La Push with her classmates, Bella encounters a family friend, Jacob Black, who informs her that the Cullens are supposedly vampires according to his tribe's legend. However, they are different from other vampires in that they are "vegetarians", meaning they drink the blood of animals rather than of humans. Later, Edward rescues Bella from a gang of men in Port Angeles. During and after dinner, she and Edward converse about his abilities, namely his ability to read minds and her immunity to it. She also tells him about her theories on his true nature in an attempt to get him to divulge more information about himself. He merely finds these amusing, though he does all but admit to his mind-reading abilities and her immunity to them. Edward and Bella get to know each other better, and he reveals that he has great difficulty being near her due to the unusually appetizing smell of her blood; he must constantly control his thirst, lest his vampiric instincts take over and drive him to slaughter her. in Twilight.]] Despite his desire for her blood, Edward and Bella fall passionately in love. Edward introduces her to his family, and soon after she is invited to watch their baseball game. During the game, danger reveals itself in the form of a visiting vampire coven consisting of Laurent, Victoria, and James. Victoria's mate, James, is a sadistic tracker vampire who has set his sights on killing Bella for sports; he was fascinated by Edward's protectiveness of a human. He tricks her into coming to her old ballet studio with the sound of her mother's voice, where he bites her wrist and almost transforms her into a vampire. But the Cullen family rush to Bella's aid and Edward manages to drain the venom out of her system before it was too late. They destroy James, though the other vampires of his coven, Victoria and Laurent, run and survive. Bella spends time in a hospital with Edward constantly by her side, where he admits that his sister Alice saw a vision of Bella becoming a vampire. However, he is determined to keep her human, despite her own will to become a vampire. The reasons behind his intentions are revealed in New Moon. Two months after James's demise, Edward takes Bella to their high school prom, despite her broken leg and angry protests. Tyler also tries to pick her up at her house, but Edward tells him that she is unavailable as far as everyone but he is concerned. There are high levels of tension as he turns to action, caused by Edward and Bella's differences of opinion about her becoming a vampire. Bella is determined to be with Edward forever, but at the age of 17. Edward wants her to have a normal human life, in other words saying that he will love her on any condition, mortal or not. In the end, they put their arguments aside to enjoy the evening, but Bella knows the conversation is not over. Physical appearance Bella is described as having a very pale complexion with long, straight, dark brown hair, a widow's peak, unique chocolate brown eyes and a heart-shaped face with a wide forehead. Her eyes are large and widely spaced. Her nose is thin and her cheekbones are prominent. Her lips are a bit too full for her slim jawline. Her eyebrows are darker than her hair and are straighter than they are arched. As such, even before she became a vampire and inherited god-like beauty, Bella was rather pretty, as she unintentionally attracted the attention of several boys in school, not just Edward. The scent of her blood is incredibly attractive to vampires, described by Bree Tanner to be the "sweetest scent she'd ever smelled", though it is a thousand times more intense to Edward Cullen. As for distinguishing features, Bella has a small crescent-shaped scar on her hand where she was bitten by James, a tracker vampire, in Twilight. The scar is described as being pale, always a few degrees colder than the rest of her body, and it shines like a vampire's skin when exposed to the sunlight. After Bella is changed into a vampire by Edward, she becomes extremely beautiful with even paler skin, straight waist-length hair, and crimson red eyes that will eventually turn gold after months of drinking animal blood. Her features are also heightened and perfected by the transformation. Bella mostly prefers to wear shirts, jeans and sneakers everywhere she goes, as she lacks an interest in fashion. In the films, Bella's hair is quite curly and wavy instead of straight. Personality and traits Bella is described as being exceptionally clumsy, dropping and tripping over everything in sight, and so is easily described as the most fragile human in the world; however this changes once she is transformed into a vampire. Bella is also described as reclusive, quiet, insecure but kind-hearted, compassionate and caring towards others. She also cares for the rest of the Cullen family, her father Charlie and mother Renée, and her friend Jacob Black. She has a tendency to underestimate the people around her mainly because of her concerns for their safety. Having learned to take care of her mother over the years and being naturally responsible, Bella had developed into a very mature person, especially for her age. Because she lacks any skill in anything noticeable as a human, she mostly prefers to spend her free time reading, especially classics, and listening to music. When it comes to fashion, Bella is somewhat of a tomboy. She hates dressing up, saying that makeup "is a pain" and that she feels uncomfortable in impractical, elegant clothes; however, Alice doesn't care what Bella thinks and continues to persuade her to dress up and look glamorous. She doesn't like spending money on luxurious items, as she stated to Edward in New Moon 'not to spend a dime on my birthday,' and that fast cars are unnecessary, saying that Edward gave her himself and anything else he gives her would throw their relationship off balance. She hates being singled out, and doesn't like her birthday being celebrated. She also has very negative views on teen marriage due to her parents' early experience, but learns to overcome them later. She prefers to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself and hates when someone tries to understand her, which is thought to be why Edward is unable to hear her thoughts. She is also known to be incredibly stubborn, because of her determination to become a vampire in order to be with Edward forever. She is also said to possess poor acting skills. Ironically, she demonstrates good acting ability in Twilight when she makes her father believe that she has dumped Edward and is leaving Forks. She has a habit of biting her lip, which she shares with Kristen Stewart. As a human, Bella easily fainted at the sight or smell of blood, which she said smells like rust and salt in Twilight, though it changes after she became a vampire. Bella is also shown in Breaking Dawn, to have a good mood climate, and is able to run away from the smell of human blood when she goes on her first hunting trip as a vampire. Bella has a sarcastic sense of humor, especially when she gets mad. She is also very brave, able to block painful thoughts and memories (hence her special vampire ability), and tends to come face-to-face with life-threatening danger head-on, even though she can get scared later. She puts Edward before herself and everybody and everything else, but several 'selfish' tendencies emerge (as when she asked Edward to stay with her instead of fighting vampires in Eclipse). Stephenie Meyer has stated that Bella's "tragic flaw" in Eclipse is her lack of self-knowledge. This is most obviously illustrated in her consistent denial of any romantic feelings for Jacob Black, despite the fact that she later realizes that she is, indeed, in love with him. Bella is also a very bad liar. According to Eclipse, Jacob and Edward saying that she's a terrible liar, are evidence to this. Besides, she also admits this throughout the whole saga, though she seemingly manages to lie to herself about her romantic feelings for Jacob. Bella, according to Edward in Midnight Sun, has no sense of fear when she finds out Edward is a vampire. Instead of running away, as she should have, she decides to ask lots of questions with extreme curiosity. This makes Edward believe that it is not bad luck that follows her around, but that she has no sense of self-preservation. She dislikes cold and wet climates, even snow, which is why she initially hated to live in Forks. However, after meeting Edward, she found the town much more comfortable, even calling it "home". As a vampire, she also dislikes the idea of feeding on humans, but is glad to have found the strength she needed to protect her loved ones. Bella inherited her mother's perceptiveness to some degree, as she was able to guess Edward was a mind reader, the first human to do so. However, she was not able to guess that Edward was in love with her. Powers and abilities After becoming a vampire, Bella explains that she has a clearer view of the world, and was impressed with her new family's and her husband's physical appearances. As a newborn vampire, she demonstrates a very high level of self-control; being able to run away from the scent of human blood on her first hunting trip, and later, restrain herself from attacking her father; this is unusual for newborn vampires, because their state as new vampires brings an overwhelming thirst for blood, and thus they usually have a hard time controlling their urges and desires. This led her to believe that her self-control was her gift when it was really a production of her mental preparation and maturity. Eleazar corrects this when he discovers her true gift. Bella appears to be talented at being a vampire, as she learns to control her new abilities and urges very quickly, even saying that she felt like she was born to be one, and is very graceful in her new state. Several people, including Aro, Felix, and Edward, have commented that immortality fits her perfectly. In'' Breaking Dawn, Bella can detect minor changes in Renesmee's physical appearance, such as her hair growing a couple of millimeters. She also learns battle skills from lessons taught by Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Garrett, Tanya, Eleazar and Zafrina. Mental shield Bella's gift allows her to shield herself and those around her from supernatural powers that affect the mind (such as Edward's and Aro's telepathy, Jane's illusionary pain, Alec's sensory paralysis, Eleazar's ability identification, Kate's electric shock, and Zafrina's illusion), which explains why most of their powers were useless against her when she was still human. She had displayed this power since before the beginning of the ''Twilight series, and by becoming a vampire, her shield was greatly intensified in strength. It has been speculated in the first three novels about what her gift might be after she was changed. This power comes from her subconscious desire to protect her mind above everything else, and as long as she holds on to that desire, it makes the shield difficult to extract. Her father Charlie shows a less developed form of this shield; indeed, Edward finds him difficult to read, but not completely closed off like Bella. In Breaking Dawn, Bella uses her shielding power as a giant dome to protect her family and friends when the Volturi attempt to make a move on them, when she was enraged by Edward facing danger alone and she is forced to stay behind, with an antagonistic smile emitted from Jane to push her anger further. Freed from her desire to protect herself, she is able to shape her shield in any way she wills it; such as creating a giant protective bubble, or wrapping it around her targets like plastic bags. When she shields others, her mind will form an extra shield to protect herself. Those she shields will also become a part of her, allowing her to feel them in range without having to look. Bella can also remove her shield completely and allow vampires' mental powers work on her if she so chooses, though it is more difficult than pushing it out. Though her shield is powerful, it has many limitations: it has no effect against a physical attack, which makes it easy for an enemy to invade her shield and use his power on those she protects. Additionally, it has no effect against Alice's power of subjective precognition, Jasper's ability to control her mood, Benjamin's power to control the elements of nature, and Marcus's power to detect relationships, since her shield can only block psychic powers that are connected to the mind. The only person who is truly immune to her shield is Renesmee, who is capable of penetrating it. Aro, the leader of the Volturi who "collects" vampires with useful talents, was so intrigued by Bella's ability to block mental powers as a human, that he twice offered her a place among his guard. She refused both times. Because of her shield, Bella is considered one of the most powerful vampires alive. Appearances *''Twilight'' **''Twilight film **Midnight Sun'' *''New Moon'' **''New Moon film *Eclipse'' **''Eclipse film **The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner'' *''Breaking Dawn'' **''Breaking Dawn - Part 1'' **''Breaking Dawn - Part 2'' Category:Narrators Category:Humans Category:Characters with special abilities Category:Forks High School students Category:Olympic coven/Cullen family Category:Twilight Category:New Moon Category:Eclipse Category:Breaking Dawn